Hasselbeck can’t see himself elsewhere, but future uncertain

Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck is one of many NFL unrestricted free agents whose future could be clouded by a possible lockout. (Rod Mar/Seattle Seahawks)

RENTON – Matt Hasselbeck packed away his clothing and equipment, placing them in a cardboard box along with all the photographs and other assorted items in his locker at the VMAC on Monday.

The Seahawks players all did the same, packing up and preparing for an offseason of uncertainty after bowing out of the playoffs in a 35-24 loss at Chicago on Sunday.

The uncertainty is twofold. Seattle has 21 players on its active roster who are not under contract for 2011, Hasselbeck included among them. And given the way coach Pete Carroll shook up the roster during the season, the number of moves the Seahawks make certainly won’t be limited to free agency.

And nobody knows exactly what’s going to happen after March 4, the day the collective bargaining agreement between the NFLPA and the league owners expires. If a new deal isn’t in place by then, players will be locked out until the two sides come to an agreement. That would mean no free-agent signing period for the duration of the lockout, which makes the future that much more clouded for unrestricted free agents like Hasselbeck.

Hasselbeck said Carroll and general manager John Schneider addressed the lockout issue with the team in their final meeting on Monday, making sure players were aware of the ramifications March 4 could bring.

Testing free agency isn’t something Hasselbeck has thought about, though, he says. And one thing Hasselbeck does know – he can’t picture himself playing in any other uniform than the Seahawks’.

“No, I can’t,” said Hasselbeck, who also said he’d like to work out a deal before the lockout date. “I can’t. There’s a lot of things I can’t envision. Nothing’s impossible. I can’t envision not playing some day, and some day that will happen too.”

Here’s a partial transcript of what Hasselbeck had to say as the Seahawks packed up and prepared for an uncertain future:

On how he feels: “The season ended so abruptly for us. I think a lot of us in the locker room really expected to win that game, really expected to have the opportunity to come back and host the NFC championship game, which would have been an awesome opportunity. The sendoff we got from our fans on our way to Chicago, we bought in, we were feeling the excitement, and I think that’s probably one of the most disappointing things about this year, knowing we had the opportunity, and it would have been a great opportunity for our fans, and for us, but we just let it slip away and didn’t get it done. Like I said after the game, we didn’t deserve it, but it was still there for us and we didn’t take advantage.”

On today’s exit meetings with the team: “It’s tough because we lost a game, and any time after you lose a game, there’s a real negative vibe, and yet there was I think a lot of positive talk today just about what we accomplished this year based on what our goals were, what our goals are, what this team’s direction is, and the direction of this team based on Pete Carroll and what he said from day one. He wants to own this division. He wants to win it year after year after year after year, and for those of us that were here when we were doing that, we know how great that is and how important that is. That’s why getting that first one this year was so important. There’s a sense of accomplishment in that regard, but then there’s also a lot of uncertainty with the amount of free agents that we have and probably even moreso with the looming lockout. Usually you go over the calendar for the year, and based on what Pete and (Seattle general manager) John Schneider told us today, that lockout will come March 4 and then everything they said after March 4 is sort of who knows. As players, as coaches, pretty much everyone in the building, we hope we don’t get locked out, we hope we are able to come to work, but we also know that there’s a really good chance that it’s going to happen.”

On being a free agent: I’m not stressed about anything. There’s nothing I can do about anything right now. Just sit back and wait. The only x-factor here is I don’t exactly know how it works. If the lockout does come March 4, I don’t know when the time to sign free agents would be. My hope is that we could maybe do something before then, but again, that’s not up to me. I’m just going to go be a dad for a little bit.”

On how this season impacts his desire to stay in Seattle: I think our team came together. The most important thing to me last offseason was just knowing that we’re trying to win now, we’re trying to be good this year and every year, not just in some distant year in the future. That was important to me. So the fact that we were able to accomplish that to a small extent this year, yeah, that mattered. I think just that feeling of winning again, and the excitement that we felt from our fans, from the crowd, it just makes it so much more fun and it reminded me of how it used to be. It’s a good start.